This story has been beta by TheMischieviousPuppyDog.
New chapter before the end of the year, woo!
Jaune woke up early on Saturday, ready to work when he remembered that it was his day off, considering it was a national holiday. Yawning, Jaune tried to go back to sleep, only for his internal alarm clock blare at him, telling him to get up. Jaune could only sigh as he got himself up to get ready for the day.
After a quick trip to the bathroom to wash up, Jaune began to cook breakfast, making an extra plate for Blake. He quickly decided to make an omelet after scouring through the fridge a bit, taking out ingredients as he hummed a song. First, he minced up the ham, green pepper, onion, spinach before lightly sauteing them with oil, putting it aside when he was done. Then he took out the eggs, swiftly cracking them into a bowl and adding a little salt before whisking it vigorously to induce air into the egg. As he did so, he poured in some mixed herbs into the mixture as well as a bit of milk. Once finished, he had a pan that had been melting butter on it, coating the inside of it with its delicious smell, and poured his egg mixture in, seasoning it as he did so.
By the time Jaune was ready to put in his filling, he heard the door behind him open. Taking a quick peek behind him, Jaune saw Blake already fully dressed, back into her normal clothes.
"Thanks for letting me stay the night," thanked Blake as she put the clothes Jaune had left for her on the couch, "I'll be leaving now."
"At least have some breakfast before you go," offered Jaune as he flipped the omelet over, quickly sprinkling cheese over it, letting it melt onto the omelet.
"I can't possibly," replied Blake, trying to refuse the offer while her eyes traced the pan, "You already fed me dinner and a place to sleep."
"I've already made your share," replied Jaune as he swiftly flipped the omelet once more before plating it, "I can't finish both shares. It'd be a waste of food."
Blake truly tried to resist, but the smell of food along with the thought of what she was even going to do after leaving, made her will crumble. Instead, she sat down, taking the plate of omelet that was already plated. Another plate soon made its way on the table, which was followed by Jaune sitting down.
"Let's eat!" grinned Jaune as he dug in.
Blake couldn't help but dig in too, smiling as she ate a Jaune-made breakfast. It was certainly better than what the school cafeteria could make.
"So, what's your plan?" asked Jaune curiously.
"I'm not sure," shrugged Blake, "There are some things that I have to do later on. I'm not sure how to do it, but I'll figure something out."
"Mmm, does one of them involve settling with whatever happened with your team?" asked Jaune.
Blake froze, letting the piece that she had stabbed with her fork fall back onto her plate.
"Umm... yea, probably," mumbled Blake.
Jaune raised his eyebrow at that noncommittal answer, "Blake, I may not exactly be the best person to give you any advice, especially when it comes to being a Huntress or a student at Beacon, but isn't teamwork one of the most important things in Beacon?"
"Yes, but it's a bit complicated," sighed Blake.
"Then make it uncomplicated," shrugged Jaune, "Figure out something to work it through. I know Pyrrha had trouble with her own team for a while, even with Nora and Ren. Oreo was a jerk in general, but I don't think anyone in your team is anything like him. I'm sure if you just talk it out with your team or something, it'll solve itself."
"I guess," admitted Blake before giving a small smile, "He was a piece of work."
Blake ate only half of the omelet, opting to take the latter half to go, saying that she really needed to leave to finish up her tasks. Jaune grabbed a paper plate and added a slice of bacon on it before waving her goodbye.
"Thanks Jaune. I owe you one," stated Blake as she left, tying up her bow. As she went out, her eyes glanced back up at Jaune's apartment, more specifically, where the extra clothes Jaune had lent her was.
'Those onesies really were comfortable,' thought Blake.
Blake had woken up in the middle of the night, feeling cold, which was understandable since she was nude under the blankets. Instantly, her hand went out to grab the shirt and boxers. Before she could withdraw it, she felt the touch of the onesies that was right next to the shirt. Hesitating for a second, she decided to drop the shirt and grab the onesies. If Pyrrha was willing to wear one, then it wouldn't hurt her to try it out at least.
'If I can manage, I might just buy one,' thought Blake as she passed an alleyway to see Sun napping there. Blake walked up to Sun, staring at him for a bit before prodding him awake with her foot. When that didn't wake him, that nudge became harder.
"I'm up! I'm up!" shouted Sun, looking around for a second before noticing Blake, "Oh it's you."
"Here," said Blake, giving Sun the leftovers of her breakfast, "Eat up and get going. We have some work to do."
Sun wolfed down the breakfast without hesitation, burping as he finished it.
"Damn that was good," declared Sun as he patted his stomach, "Where'd you get that grub? I had to scrounge for some food for dinner."
"Same place you tried to massage and dash," deadpanned Blake, "Now come on. I'm going to make you work for that Lien I had spent to cover for you. You owe me."
Sun tried to whine, but a flick of Blake's hair as well as a glare made him quiet down and follow her.
"Well now that's done, and I have the whole day to myself... what the hell do I do?" questioned Jaune as he scratched his head. Sure he had days off every Tuesday, but those were usually filled with Pyrrha teaching him.
"I guess I can binge on some shows I've been wanting to watch while doing some exercise," muttered Jaune before pulling up a nearby movie theater on his Scroll, "Ooh the new Donnie Ren movie is out! I should go watch that."
Just as he was about to head out, he ran right into the Malachite twins.
"Hey, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out today," offered Melanie.
"We can go watch a movie or head to an amusement park," suggested Miltia.
"And if you're lucky tonight, maybe we'll end up in a hotel room," whispered both girls seductively, causing Jaune to blush before they started to laugh.
"But seriously, did you have anything planned today?" asked Melanie.
"Nope, was planning on watching the Donnie Ren movie that just came out," shrugged Jaune, "Wanna watch it with me?"
Both girls looked at each other before shrugging and replying, "Eh, why not? Let's go!"
Truth be told, the girls were rather numb when it came to watching action films, being bouncers and in on the action itself already, but it didn't stop them from appreciating a fighting movie every now and then. Plus, it was a nice way to spend time with Jaune instead of a bunch of grunts and Junior.
One day later
Jaune had just finished up with the last patient and closing down the clinic. Blake hadn't come back, so Jaune assumed whatever had happened with her team had been cleared up already. He had just finished mopping the floor when he heard his door open. Having locked the front door already, there were only two people who could've entered without breaking down the door. Though Junior might count as a third, but he was the landlord, and thus excluded from the count.
"Hey Roman… what happened, you look tired?" asked Jaune in a worried tone.
Though Roman was looking smooth as always in his suit, Jaune could see scratches and scruffs on his normally impeccable suit. Not to mention his hat was off-kilter by a bit and wore a haggard face.
"Oh, nothing, just a really hard day at work," sighed Roman as he collapsed onto a chair, "Few of my employees didn't know what they were doing, another branch caught us at a bad time, stalling a few of my projects, and my boss is riding my ass on this a bit."
Of course, Roman wasn't going to tell Jaune directly just what he did for a living. So he smoothly placed vague truths about his tale. His 'employees' were the White Fang grunts, who couldn't tell what a leash was, or the words fast and efficient. The 'other branch' was a bunch of wannabe Huntsmen and Huntresses that managed to stop that 'project', setting him back a bit. It would've been a really big payday if it wasn't for that freaky girl with orange hair, floating swords, and the ability to fire off LASER BEAMS for Oum's sake. As it was, he only managed to get a tiny portion of the Dust as he escaped, leaving the grunts to their doom. And of course, Cinder, his 'boss', had been displeased about this failure, and still wouldn't tell him why they needed all this Dust.
It worked, as Jaune immediately latched onto the theory that Roman had some difficulty on his job, being a Dust inspector, something Roman had 'said' he was.
"I tell you, the people I work with, they can be a real animal sometimes, you know what I mean?" complained Roman.
"You must have some... interesting co-workers," said Jaune politely, misinterpreting Roman's use of the word 'animal'. Roman was having too much fun with his vague truths.
"Still, it's been a long day," sighed Roman as he sagged on the chair, "I could use a cold stiff drink and a long nap."
"Well I don't have any alcohol here, but I can give you a massage," offered Jaune as he tossed a warm towel to Roman, who gratefully accepted it and pressed the towel against his face.
"You know, I think I'll take you up on that offer," mused Roman as stood up, "I could use some pampering, considering I haven't had one of your massages before."
"Then hit the showers while I ready up the room," directed Jaune as he left the waiting room.
"Ah, that felt so much better," stretched Roman as he finished his shower, wrapping the towel around his waist before putting on his signature hat once more, "Now if only I could have that drink."
Roman walked into one of the single rooms, where Jaune was waiting.
"Just use the scentless oil," waved Roman as he laid onto the massage table, "Working in the Dust Industry means I can't afford to have scented oils wafting from my body too much."
Jaune nodded as he warmed up his hands by rubbing them together in preparation before buckling down.
"Geez, you have a lot of knots," commented Jaune as his initial probing discovered how tense Roman's muscles were, "It's going to take a while to work out all these kinks."
"Just do the biggest ones," grunted Roman as he felt Jaune tackling on one of those pesky knots, no doubt caused by working with such incompetent grunts.
Jaune frowned as continued to press down, feeling a large number of knots all around Roman's body. It would take quite some time to finish this off, as well as another session to be honest. There was one way to speed this up, though...
"Roman, do you know anything about Aura?" asked Jaune.
Roman raised his eyebrow at that question before slowly replying, "Yea... why are you asking?"
"Do you have your Aura unlocked?" asked Jaune.
"Again... why are you asking?" asked Roman.
"Well I've got a new technique that seems to work really well, but it doesn't work on those that don't have their Aura unlocked," replied Jaune as he pressed down on another knot, "Tested it out on a few people. Those without Aura say it's uncomfortable and terrifying while those that do say it feels good. I'm still trying to work out the kinks, but I figured the more I practice with it, the better it'll be."
"Well, go for it. I have Aura," shrugged Roman, seeing no harm in being another test subject.
Jaune nodded as he lifted his hands up, pouring Aura into his hands. Roman felt a small chill crawl up his spine as he felt the amount of Aura surging right above his back. Before he could do anything though, that chill instantly disappeared as soon as Jaune placed his hands on his back.
Later on, Roman would deny moaning and groaning at the massage. Still, he could feel countless knots suddenly dispersing under Jaune's careful ministrations. Roman bit his lip when Jaune began using his Aura-infused elbow on his Teres Major muscle.
It had been two hours when Jaune was done with the full body massage, lifting his arm to wipe off the sweat from his forehead.
"Alright, finished! Go ahead and feel free to wash up again, I'm going to go upstairs and take a quick shower and change clothes," declared Jaune as he washed his hands.
As soon as Jaune left the door, Roman slowly pushed himself up, stretching his arms as wide as he could, enjoying the feeling of stretching his back muscles without all those pesky knots.
"Neo will kill me if I don't mention that new massage to her," muttered Roman as he stood up. As it stood right now, Jaune was Neo's favorite, well her only masseur. But now, he had an enhanced version of his already prodigious massage skills.
After making sure he was dressed up properly (impeccable as always, he might add), Roman walked up the stairs to see Jaune already in his onsies, cooking up dinner. Roman ignored the onesies and grabbed a cup as well as some juice laying in the fridge, plopping down onto the coach as if it had been his own house.
As Roman sipped on his juice, he had a pen and paper out, busy writing something down. He never stopped until Jaune placed some food in front of him.
"What'cha writing?" asked Jaune curiously.
"The pricing for you Aura massage," replied Roman, "This new technique of yours is a gold mine! I can say that nobody has ever done what you did now! The only problem is that you say it's only available to Huntsmen and Huntresses, or rather anyone who has their Aura unlocked. Shame, really, or you'd get a much bigger target audience. They make a decent amount of Lien, but nothing over the top. If you can somehow make it work on others, then you can really dig into their pockets!"
"Why aren't there more people who have Aura unlocked?" asked Jaune, "Seems really useful to use every day."
"Er... logistics and stuff," chuckled Roman nervously, not wanting to shatter Jaune's naive view just yet. Though useful, having Aura was both a blessing and a curse.
"Still, I got the pricing down," stated Roman, forcefully switching the topic back to the original track, "Though tell me the truth. Do you feel any side effects from the technique?"
"Well if I use it continuously, I'd say t
hree hours would be my limit before I start feeling a little tired," mused Jaune, "Though I'm still trying to fine-tune that. Maybe if I had better Aura control, I could last longer? If used at different times, then a little longer. I don't really feel strain until much later."
'I don't think anyone could do that for three straight hours without your Aura reserves,' sweatdropped Roman. Having felt Jaune's Aura firsthand, he could sense the quality and quantity of Jaune's reserves, and he wasn't kidding when he first said it was huge.
"Ooh, is there some way I can make my Aura manifest into another hand?" asked Jaune curiously.
"... Another hand? I don't think any amount of Aura control can make that happen. Though then again, nobody has really tried to manifest Aura into another limb, mainly using it to coat the skin and weapons. A semblance maybe, but it wouldn't hurt to try," hummed Roman.
"Semblance?" asked Jaune, not having heard that term before.
"Sort of a special ability that comes with having Aura," explained Roman, "Just look over some of your textbooks about Aura and look up Semblance. They'll give a better explanation. But anyways, keep working on that technique of yours. You could make a special 'happy hour' for anyone with Aura active. Or reserve a special time slot, forcing them to come at that specific time. Since you're the only one who can do it, you have a monopoly!"
Roman whistled as he left Elysium Oasis, having spent a good time discussing on how to price the Aura massage. He really did feel much better and was looking forward to doing it again when he had time. As he was walking, he noted his Scroll started to vibrate. Picking it up, he saw a photo of Neo smiling with a peace sign. Then he noticed something particular in the background of the photo and smiled. With this photo, it would certainly push the police towards looking at the White Fang and not him.
Next morning
Jaune was busy whisking some eggs while watching the weather report when a flashing news report suddenly cut through the usual chatter.
"... and our top story today, we found a woman hanging from a pole, covered in what seems to be... piles of animals feces, though still very much alive. Anyways, the police have identified her as Kayen Millenial, a local at Vale. Beneath her feet was a file that seemed to contain a lot of documents. The most curious part of these documents is that they contain evidence of crimes committed by her. Police are now investigating the supposed crimes, which include blackmail, fraud, and other crimes too long to list. Is this perhaps a show of power from the White Fang? Perhaps she wronged a Faunus, or perhaps the White Fang would no longer let such an individual roam free? Was piling animal feces a statement saying they won't put up with this shit any longer, pardon my language? This is news reporter Emma Lee, signing off. Back to you Lisa."
Jaune had stopped whisking the eggs as he stared at the television set. His eyes bulged in shock at the sight of Kayen's photo on the news. He remembered that annoying woman who threatened his business after clearly failing the job interview. Had Neo done something? Or was it just a coincidence? Then again, a rather large amount of time had passed between Kayen leaving and now. Perhaps it was all just a strange coincidence... though he couldn't shove that nagging feeling that Roman and Neo had set this up.
He would have to think about that later, as he had a full schedule today. Jaune quickly got ready, and with a smile on his face, greeted both Clementine and Arvo as they arrived.
Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!
Next up, Beacon's summer vacation time!